For the second time Zoramthanga swears in as Chief Minister of Mizoram

Zoramthanga takes oath as Chief Minister of Mizoram

In the latest development, the Mizo National Front leader, Zoramthangaassumed office as Chief Minister of Mizoram today. Zoramthanga is becoming the Chief Minister of Mizoram for the second time as he had assumed the post during 1998 to 2008. In the recently concluded Assembly polls, his part rode to power trouncing the Congress party, which was ruling for the last two terms under the leadership of Lal Thanawala. This time around, MNF had fared really well, thus pushing the Congress to the third slot, the latter managing to win only five seats in the 40 member Legislative Assembly. Leading from the front, Zoramthanga entered the campaign fray with power packed speeches that fetched the Mizo National Front as many as 26 seats, whereas, the Congress party’s coalition partner, Zoram People’s Movement emerged second largest winner, bagging eight seats to become the Principal Opposition Party.

The ZPM had only last year forged alliance with the Congress and other non-MNF parties, thought that despite anti-incumbency factor the coalition could sail through. But when the poll results came, MNF emerged a winner. The BJP showed dismal record at the hustings as the party could gain only a solitary seat, that too in the Chakmadominated Tuichawng Constituency in the Chakma Autonomous District Council. Immediately after the result, Zoramthanga had said that all his predictions came true, as he had foretasted that MNF would get between 25 and 30 seats, which in reality had won 26 seats. He had also predicted that the Congress would win only less than ten seats and that too turned true. The new Chief Minister said he would focus on the development of Mizoram, going forward.

“Time for us to Introspect”, says BJP alliance partner Shiv Sena spokesperson after the Assembly Poll Result trends 2018

Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena spokesperson says time for the BJP and allies to introspect after the Assembly poll results show anti-incumbency at work.

As the results of the Assembly Polls 2018 from five states such as Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram are trickling, the Shiv Sena spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Raut had said without mincing words that it is time for the ruling BJP at Centre to analyse the governance with the results showing anti-incumbency factor is plaguing the BJP.

While quoting Raut, a PTI statement said that the trends mirrored that the BJP’s victory chariot has been halted. “This is a clear message and it is time for us to introspect”, Raut told the media in Parliament. Besides being a partner of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP at the Centre, and also in Maharashtra, its ally, Shiv Sena has a love-hate relationship with the BJP. Although, the two political parties contested the Maharasthra Assembly polls in 2014 separately, nevertheless, the two parties forged alliance to form a government, headed by the BJP Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis.

India Assembly Polls 2018. Photo: EC.

The latest poll results trend clearly shows that the BJP is trailing in both Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to the Congress, while the two parties are fighting neck and and neck in Madhya Pradesh. In Telangana, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), headed by KS Chandrasekar Rao is preparing to form the government for the second time, while in the northestern state of Mizoram, the Mizo National Front (MNF) has relegated the ruling Congress way behind in its tally of seats.

The latest tally is as follows: In MP, Congress is leading in 118 seats, BJP 103 and BSP 2. In Telangana the TRS is leading in 87 seats Congress 22 and BJP 1. In Rajasthan, Congress leads with 102 seats BJP 72, BSP 2. In Chhattisgargh Congress 64, BJP 17 and BSP 9. In Mizoram, MNF 26, Congress 5 and BJP 1.

Barely a week left for the south Indian state of Telangana going to Assembly polls, the Congressand the Telugu Desam party (TDP), which were on either side of the camps, have firmed up their minds to leave the past and forge a new alliance and face the might of Telangana Rasthra Samithi (TRS) led by K. Chandrasekara Rao (KCR). The TDP severed the umbilical chord with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) as early as March this year and its leader, Nara Chandrababu Naidu (N. Chandrababu Naidu) is ever since been toiling to stitch a strong opposition alliance to defeat the ruling BJP led NDA in the federal election to be held in 2019.

Setting aside the age difference, Naidu who is two decades older than the Congress chief, Rahul Gandhi, decided to sail on the same boat, without leaving any speculation as to who will be the Prime Ministerial candidate, backing himself off, Naidu had earlier clarified that he was not into the race.

Gandhi, in fact, had told the New Delhi Television (NDTV) channel last night that the Congress and the TDP were no longer rivals and added that the chemistry is working out pretty well like never before. Stating that the new bonhomie with the TDP and its leader, Naidu is working well, Gandhi added: “We like each other. We think there is a lot we can to together. I think, you are going to see that in the forthcoming polls, we are going to win the elections.”

Gandhi, who visited the capital city of Telangana, Hyderabad yesterday in order to campaign for the alliance, which was firmed up during the meeting he had with Naidu early this month in Delhi, which will be broad-based and long-term.

While speaking on the occasion, Naidu said, “We are very clear that India is very, very important. Therefore, it is our bounden duty for both TDP and Congress and other like minded political parties to stitch an grand alliance to defeat the BJP in the 2018 Lok Sabha polls and save the nation.”

Both Rahul Gandhi and Chandrababu Naidu, taking on the might of TRS will campaign, consisting of public meetings and roadshows. The two leaders will address the voters sharing the dais together in three rallies at Asif Nagar, Khammam and Sanathnagar.

Anti Incumbency Factor

TRS, which is facing anti-incumbency factor, is contesting in all seats. The TDP, which has a slender voter base, since the bifurcation of the combined Andhra, many people had relocated to Vijawada and other place leaving Hyderabad and other regions of Telangana, has now forged alliance with the Congress, which still has some clout. TDP has formed alliance with other political parties such as Congress, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and stitched a grand alliance, “Mahakutami“, which is considered as the initial experimentation before the grand alliance could actually take of at the federal level at the General Elections next year.

Facilitator

The new avatar of Naidu is that of a facilitator, who is travelling the length and breadth of the country to iron out differences with various political parties and cobble a grand alliance with a Common Minimum Programme. The understanding the various opposition parties have arrived at is to fight the election on regional basis and depending on the poll outcome, if it is positive, based on the number of seats each party had won in the Lok Sabha seats, then they would sit and decide the Prime Minister.

In order to drum up support to his ambitious plan of grand alliance, Naidu has been visiting Delhi often meeting senior political leaders such as Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP)and Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference (NC)in addition to the meeting he had with the Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader, Arvind Kejriwal.

If you trace the genesis of the TDP, way back in the early eighties, when Naidu’s father in law and matinee idol, Nandamuri Basava Taraka Rama Rao (NT Rama Rao), a popular actor in the combined Andhra Pradesh wanted to end the mis-rule of Congress. Within months of forming the Telugu Desam Party, Rao rode to power when the State Assembly elections were held in 1983, thus he formed the maiden non-Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh.

Rao introduced several measures including offering rice for the poor for just Rs.2. When his Government was pulled down by the Congress by anointing Nathella Bhaskara Raoby the all powerful Indira Gandhi led Congress Governmentat the helm, Rao took his cadres and MPs to Delhi and protested in front of the Parliament for justice. Rao was also very friendly with the then neighbouring Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Marudur Gopala Menon Ramachandran (MG Ramachandranor more popularly known as MGRlike his counterpart NTR), another cinema icon in the Tamil tinsel town.

Naidu started off his political career as a student leader of the TDP and married NTR’s daughter and after the demise of NTR, took over the mantle from his father in law. In the late nineties, Naidu ran for the Assembly election forging alliance with Left parties. Eventually, the political compulsions drew him to have political understanding with the BJP. At the start of this year, Naidu exited the NDA camp, infuriated over the BJP led federal government’s reticence to give special status to the newly formed state of Andrha Pradesh after the bifurcation of combined Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Andhra. In fact, the BJP had initially promised the TDP that they would give special status, only to back track and further to frustrate him, refused to fund more for building the capital Amaravatiin AP.

Buriying all the hatchets, Gandhi, who had earlier admitted that both the Congress and the TDP had “a past” – last night said, “We are working together because there is a threat to this nation from the Prime Minister and from the BJP.”

Naidu also added that it was a national mission that all the political parties, shedding their differences had joined hands withe purpose of unseating the BJP in the hustings in 2019.

Diwali Bonus for HD Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah, as the Congress-JDS combine sweeps the Karnataka By-Polls 2018.

In Karnataka, the ruling Congress-Jantata Dal Secular alliance has won four seats out of the five, where by-poll 2018 was held. The Ballari and Mandya Parliamentary seats in addition to Jamkhandi and Ramanagara Assembly seats the Congress-JDS combine won. The BJP candidate won Shivamogga Lok Sabha constituency.

Expressing his happiness about the poll outcome, Congress leader P Chidambaram said that the coalition has delivered. Out of the three Parliamentary constituencies, the BJP held two and JDS one and it also holds the prestigious Shivamogga, the stronghold of its State Chief, BS Yeddyurappa.

Loss of Face for BJP

This by-election is all the more important both for the ruling dispensation of Karnataka as well as the BJP after the Assembly polls, said the NDTV report and added that it was a loss of face for the BJP as the Congress-JDS entered into a late coalition to deprive the BJP from forming the Government despite being the single largest party, noted the report. The positive outcome in the by-elections is a shot-in-the-arm for the ruling Congress-JDS alliance in Karnataka, when its longevity was seen with scepticism.

It may be recalled that in 2014, the BJP had won 17 of the 20 Parliamentary seats in the south Indian state of Karnataka, while the Congress won nine and HD Kumaraswamy’s JDS two seats. What is more, the BJP won 104 of the 224 Assembly seats in the election held in May this year.

Yaddyurappa said, “We will introspect the results of Ballari and move ahead. Nevertheless, we are confident that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be completely ours.” Earlier, he also accused the Congress-JDS alliance of indulging in rampant misuse of official machinery, while liquor and money was also distributed. At the same time, Yeddyurappa accepted the verdict of the people in this by-election with all humility. Reacting to the poll outcome, Kumaraswamy complimented Congress and added that the former had supported him and so in his personal capacity, it was his duty to support the Congress as well. Terming Rahul Gandhi as innocent politician, he said, “In my interactions with him in the last few months, Rahul came across as very innocent. He has been truthful and honest with me.”

Karnataka By-Poll 2018 Results, Pie-Chart by NDTV on Twitter.

Kumaraswamy also said that the people across India are blessing their alliances. “If you see by-polls across the country, wherever there is a BJP versus alliance battle, the BJP has lost. With our unity and the blessings of the people, we are destined to win”, he said and added that when it came to money power, no other political party could compete with the BJP. “They havve much more money than any other party”, he added.

Modi Wave will not hold water anymore

Stating that the Modi wave do not hold water anymore, Kumaraswamy pointed out, “In 2014, the scenario was different. The country was new to Modi. The people thought that Modi would change the whole country and the whole system. Nevertheless, Modi also made several promises, but after 4.5 years, people have seen what he is capable of. They now know that they are voting for. So the Modi wave factor has completely changed. Modi will not survive 2019.” While concluding, Kumaraswamy hailed the verdict as a ‘Moral Victory” for the Congress-JDS alliance.

Although announced way back in 2004, the Signature Bridge, after missing several deadlines was finally inaugurated this evening. Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi officially inaugurated the bridge, which is expected to reduce travel between north and northeast Delhi. The new bridge will be thrown open to public tomorrow.

The bridge has come up on a 675 metre long cable stayed stretch will ease the traffic pressure of Delhi Traffic, especially, Wazirabad bridge and further connect the Outer Ring Road on the western bank of Yamuna river with Wazirabad Road on the eastern side. Signal Bridge, in fact, is the first asymmetrical cable stayed bridge in the country, which gives magnificent view of the Delhi metropolis.

Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, Photo: PTI.

Four elevators are in place, which can accommodate a total of 50 people to the top of the bridge. Sufficient spaces are provided for the selfie-crazy citizens of Delhi to stand on the bridge and take their photographs. The work of the elevators are going on and according to officials, they will be operational within two months.

Tourism potential

Besides easing the chalk-a-block traffic of Delhi, Signature Bridge will also add up as a major tourism attraction as it offers panoramic view of the city. Manish Sisodia, the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi said that with 154 metre high glass box offering a panoramic view of the city, the Signature Bridge has gained a spot in the tourism map of Delhi. Through his Twitter handle, Sisodia invited all the citizens of Delhi to take part in the inauguration of the bridge, a pride of Delhi. The DCM Tweeted: Delhi! Here is yor pride…The Signature Bridge…Ready to welcome you tomorrow for inauguration ceremony 4.00 PM onwards…Sunday…4th Nov.”

He also took to Twitter to settle score with the Union Government as he tweeted that the BJP attempted to meddle with the progress of the project by appointing incompetent officers and further threatening those officers who were honest. “It was a humongous challenge for the Aam Aadmi Party Government to make this dream a reality”, Sisodia said.

Originally approved in 1997, apparently when a school bus fell off the narrow Wazirabad bridge into the Yamuna river where 22 children drowned. The actual work commenced only in 2008 and now finally when the bridge was thrown open to the public, the cost escalated many folds. The original budget was to built Signature Bridge at a cost of Rs.1,131 crore and targeted to finish the work before the Commonwealth Games in October 2010, but that dream did not take off. In 2015, the cost of the project had risen to Rs.1,594 crore. Again, the deadline to finish the project was deferred to June 2016. What is more, the project got further delayed and the inauguration plan was postponed to July 2017 and again it was deferred to December last year. Finally, after much struggle, the Signature Bridge got inaugurated, thus giving the motorists the much needed drive sans traffic snarls.

The police administration of Sabarimala town has imposed a temporary ban on large gatherings from Saturday as the hilltop temple is prepared to reopen its gates on Monday (November 5), amid fears of violence and protests by right-wing activists. The right-wing group is opposing the Supreme Court verdict that women of all age can enter Sabarimala. While the Government of Kerala is trying to implement the SC order, right-wing protesters, backed by various groups such as the BJP cadre, Nair Service Society, Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalanam (SNDP), the Royal Family of Pandalam and others. The protesters attacked media persons and women of menstural age who tried to enter the shrine and sent them back recently when the temple doors were opened for dharshan. After that violence, police swooped on the protesters and arrested more than 2,000 of them who were identified through CCTV and other video footages. This time around, the police is not taking a chance. The police had imposed restrictions across Elavunkal, Nilakkal, Pampa and Sannidhanam until Tuesday, November 6 midnight.

T Narayanan, Superintendent of Police, Pathanamthittta said an estimated 1,500 police officers are manning the security in this region. In addition to that the security arrangements will also be under the scanner of Anil Kanth, Additional Digital General of Police. What is more, the media persons were asked to stay away from the hill top shrine until the day of the reopening. Elaborate traffic arrangements have been made. Barricades are in strategic places on the way to Nilakkal and Pampa. Narayanan told the media that women devotees haven’t approached the police so far asking for entering the temple during this phase of the pilgrimage. If any woman comes forward, the police will ensure that the Supreme Court order is implemented, the officer asserted. Till yesterday, the Kerala police had booked 536 cases and swoopped around 3,719 protesters in connection with October 17 violence. As many of them were later let off, around 100 of them are still being detained.

PS Sreedharan Pillai, President, BJP Kerala unit charged that he had received death threat from someone that he would be bumped off during the Sabarimala Protectin Rathayatra from November 8-13. Apparently, the BJP Kerala unit has informed the DGP Loknath Behra, the agency report said.

The Delhi BJP leader, Rajeev Babbar has filed a criminal defamation complaint against Congress Member of Parliament, Shashi Tharoor before a court in Delhi for his alleged “Scorpion” remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, news agency PTI said. According to the report, Babbar had filed the criminal defamation complaint stating that his religious sentiments were hurt with Tharoor’s remark.

Shashi Tharoor, Photo: PTI

“I am a devotee of Lord Shiva. However, the accused (Shashi Tharoor) completely disregarded the sentiments of crores of Shiva’s devotees, made the statement which hurt the sentiments of all the Lord Shiva devotees, both in India and outside the country”, Babbar stated in the complaint.

The complaint further stated, “The complainant’s religious sentiments were hurt and the accused deliberately did this malicious act, intending to outrage religious feeling of Lord Shiva devotees by insulting their religious believes.”

Freedom of Expression

Tharoor dismissed the complaint by terming the defamation complaint as “frivolous” and alleged that it was an attempt to “throttle the freedom of expression.” Babbar, in a complaint filed through the lawyer Neeraj, termed the statement as “intolerable abuse” and “absolute vilification” of the faith of millions of people. Reacting to the complaint, Tharoor told the media, “The charges are frivolous. If we start to stifle the right of the people to quote published material then where would our democracy head? Where is the freedom of expression?”

Babbar filed the criminal defamation complaint under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code relating to defamation. The matter is likely to be heard next Saturday, noted the report.

Controversy

Apparently, Tharoor had created a fresh controversy yesterday while speaking at the Bangalore Literature Festival, claiming that an unnamed RSS leader had told him, “Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling. You cannot move it with your hand, and you cannot hit it with a chappal (slipper) either.”

New Book

Tharoor’s newest book, “The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi and his India” deals with dissecting the Moditva brand of politics, where the author drives home the point that Modi is creating an India in his own image, writes Rihab Najeem in The Business Line.

At a time when it seems the only resource reliably worth the plunder is the public’s attention span, the advertising industry has to toil harder to separate a fool from his money. Take, for instance, books — a considerably attention-intensive product in an increasingly attention-deficit society. When new marketing strategies for books veer from bizarre book trailers to courting controversy on social media, politician and former diplomat Shashi Tharoor chose to promote his latest title, The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi and his India, through a device made familiar by his Twitter forays: a long, mildly baffling word.

‘Floccinaucinihilipilification’ was intended to convey what Tharoor thought of the Central government. Contrary to what breathless headlines insisted, the word was not being introduced to Indian audiences for the first time. In his 1991 film Agantuk, filmmaker Satyajit Ray has the protagonist, played by Utpal Dutt, explain the word’s meaning: “It means having little or no value”. Remarking how 29 letters are needed to express this sentiment, Dutt’s character asks: “Is this what civilisation has come to?” Interestingly, Tharoor’s new book sets out to ask the same question, writes Rihab.

A man and his regime

BLink met Tharoor (62) at his residence in Lodhi Estate in New Delhi. The former UN under-secretary general Tharoor bears all the signs of the only leveller in a power- and hierarchy-obsessed city — a smog-induced cold. But that hardly dulls the edges of his words as he explains the focus of the book — a fine-grained scrutiny of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s four-and-a-half years at the helm of India.

“I look at this phase in India’s political history through the prism of the Prime Minister specifically because his personal stamp is evident throughout his regime,” Tharoor says.

The book begins with a profile, an account of the “fundamental contradiction” within Modi as PM. Tharoor writes, “[Modi] advocates liberal principles and objectives, but if these are to be fulfilled, he would need to jettison the very illiberal forces that have helped ensure his electoral victories.” Referring to how the current dispensation has moved from the classic trope of Hindutva into that of “Moditva” — described in the opening chapter as “a combination of Hindutva, nationalism, economic development and overweening personal leadership” — Tharoor tells BLink, “It became impossible to ignore the PM’s personal responsibility for the direction of the government.”

Rihab writes, “The contents page — generally a benign section in most books — reads like an incriminating laundry list. With chapter titles such as ‘A Growing Wave of Communalism’, ‘The Attack on Institutions’, ‘Destroying Parliament’, and ‘The Dark Truth About Black Money’, the book is a wide-canvas sketch of the government’s many controversial measures and policies.”

A divisive logic

Tharoor, who is a Congress MP from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala, does not find it easy to make time to write. “I have a full day’s work in my constituency and I therefore write at night,” he explains. “So I didn’t sleep much for the last nine months, trying to get the book together. But it was worth it, because the impact of the book is greater now, with only a few months left to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, than had it arrived in the midst of the hullaballoo of an ongoing election.” He says emphatically, “I want people to think about these things.”

Eye of a Storm

Stating that Tharoor has frequently been in the eye of a storm for making remarks that raise the hackles of either his own party members or his detractors, Rihab goes on to write that Tharoor was dropped as a spokesperson by the Congress when he congratulated Modi for his victory in the 2014 polls, while earlier this week, he was attacked by the BJP for describing Modi as a scorpion sitting on a Shivalingam. One cannot hit it with one’s hands, nor with a slipper, he said, and later clarified that he was merely repeating what an unnamed RSS member had been quoted as saying in a published article.

The new book was launched in very short time as his book, titled: “Why I am a Hindu” was released only in January this year. Reaffirming the pluralist ethos of the Hindu faith, the book defends the more inclusive and compassionate tenets of Hinduism against the excesses of Hindutva — cow vigilantism, lynch mobs, ghar wapsi, love jihad.

“It’s startling to know that of all the cow vigilante incidents, 97% took place in Modi’s regime. We’re looking at an extraordinary transformation here,” Tharoor writes and adds: “I grew up in the India of the 1960s, the India of inclusion, national integration, along with a certain amount of complacency about the fact that we had rejected the logic of Partition, and that we were a country for everyone. All of those things are now being fundamentally questioned.”

Pointing out “an intangible but perceptible change in the attitudes of people”, Tharoor who was the Union Minister during the previous UPA Government headed by Manmohan Singh, uses the Modi’s meteoric political ascent as a metaphor that explains the creeping resurgence of Hindu chauvinism in modern India, writes Rihab.

Wielding a sales pitch as a weapon

In the article, Rihab continues, “Tharoor locates Modi’s intellectual and political conditioning within the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which from its origins in 1925 propagated a vision of a Hindu Rashtra founded on an aggressively masculine and exclusionary nationalism.”

Charting Modi’s political maturation from pracharak to Chief Minister of Gujarat, amid the 2002 riots that later led the Opposition to coin the epithet “Maut ka Saudagar” (‘Merchant of Death’), to eventually becoming a Prime Ministerial candidate on the strength of his economic management of Gujarat, Tharoor cites a market analogy.

“All this was deftly portrayed through skilled marketing: the product was the chief minister himself, the sales pitch was slick and tirelessly repeated, and the ‘consumer’ was the Indian voter, first in Gujarat but thereafter across the nation,” Tharoor writes in the book.

Weaponising Social Media

The way the Modi government has weaponised social media and image marketing is a recurrent theme in the book, Riham writes.”Discussing Modi’s ‘politics of performance’, Tharoor had written in the new book, “It goes back to 2012-13 when Modi starts building up his personal image, hires a number of internationally recognised public relations firms and starts putting out images and messages that are meant to change the perception of what people assume he is and what he might be.”

“Suddenly, a very successful and rather expensive and extensive campaign is conducted to portray him as not another khaki shorts-wearing RSS pracharak, and to actually sell the idea to young Indians that here was a man who could identify with their aspirations”, Tharoor writes. “Here was a new standard-bearer, a smartly attired modern man who could click a mouse with one hand while brandishing a trishul in the other”, Tharoor was quoted by Rihab as stating in his book. However, the MP believes Modi has had less success in selling his government policies to the public, despite the staggering budget for publicity alone, writes Rihab.

The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in response to a Right to Information query was quoted as saying by the BL report as early as May that the Modi government had spent ₹4,343 crore on publicity since it came to power in May 2014. Tharoor points out how the publicity budget for the Swachh Bharat Mission was five times the outlay for the mission itself. “This is very much a government of smoke and mirrors, that substantive results are far less important to them than the appearance of results; and this is apparent across the board,” he argues. “The photo-op trumps the outcome.”

My party, right or wrong

“One wonders what will remain of the pillars of our democracy by the time Modi is done if he gets another second innings, and therefore it is extremely important to deny him that,” Tharoor says as he concludes the interview.

The book heaves with the weight of its intended purpose — to change the fate of an election. But the “thoughtful, book-reading, Indian public”, for whom Tharoor says he has written his latest title, is certain to notice a glaring blindness in the essays, writes Rihab.

If someone unfamiliar with Indian political and social history were to read them, they would come away thinking worse of the Indian voting public for electing such a government. Unless, of course, one also widens the scope of enquiry to include the role that Tharoor’s own party has had in making Modi seem like the inevitable, inexorable choice, notes the report.

The Paradoxical Prime Minister styles itself as the literary equivalent of a speeding, wailing ambulance taking the voter’s moral and intellectual conscience through the path to recovery — a Modi-mukt sarkar. But it fails to acknowledge the many ways in which the voter was so severely ailing that Modi seemed like a cure, added the report.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party Chief today had a meeting with Congress President Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi today, a meeting, which the former termed it as a “Democratic Compulsion.” Apparently, Naidu had visited Gandhi at the latter’s residence in an attempt to garner opposition unity to take on the ruling BJP at the next year’s Lok Sabha polls, IE reported.

“We have to save the nation and defend democracy. It is a democratic compulsion and we have joined together to protect our country,” Naidu said while addressing the media. This was the TDP chief’s first meeting with Rahul Gandhi after getting out of the alliance with the NDA. The two had shared the dais at the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in May.

Emphasising the need for opposition parties to unite against the saffron party, Gandhi said, “We had a very good meeting. The gist was that we have to defend the democracy and future of the country. So, we are coming together to work together; all opposition forces must unite. We are not going to get into the past. We are going to talk about the present and the future. Opposition forces need to come together to provide a vision to the country because of the current situation.”

Talking about unemployment and alleged corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal, Gandhi said, “It is very clear that corruption is taking place. Institutions that can investigate are being attacked. A proper inquiry on what all happened, where the money went and who did corruption, that is what I am pushing very aggressively. The nation wants to know this.”

Slew of meetings

Earlier in the day, Naidu had met NCP chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and held talks of building a nationwide alliance against the saffron party. After meeting Pawar and Abdullah in the afternoon, Naidu had told reporters, “We must protect the future generations. There is a need to chalk out a programme for the future. We must act in the interest of the nation.” Abdullah, on the other hand, said the country was going through “difficult times” and emphasised on the need to “save democracy”.

Expressing concern over “assault” on institutions like the CBI and the RBI, Pawar said the non-BJP parties will come out with a common minimum programme to take on the government. “If we collectively work to save democracy, we can definitely save the institutions. Chandrababu (Naidu) will talk to other state political leaders in this regard,” the NCP chief said. Naidu also met Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. However, TDP sources claimed that the duo met “coincidentally” at the airport.

Watershed

The meeting between Naidu and Gandhi could be a watershed in the history of TDP, established by Naidu’s father-in-law, late NT Rama Tao in the early 1980s with the sole purpose of defeating the Congress in undivided Andhra. He was successful within a year and became the first non-Congress CM of AP in 1983. Now the TDP, under Naidu, is already in talks with the Congress for an alliance in Telangana.

Naidu, who walked out of the NDA alliance this year over demand for special status for Andhra Pradesh, is now trying to bring all like-minded opposition parties together to form an alliance as an alternative to BJP. “I have taken the responsibility to save the country from this threat. It is the duty of all to save the country,” he said.

On his previous visit to the national capital, Naidu had met a cross-section of non-Congress and non-BJP leaders in an effort to bring them together against the NDA. During his visit, he met the likes of BSP chief Mayawati, AAP leader and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, former BJP leader and government critique Yashwant Sinha, and Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav.

Credible Alternative

Naidu, who was the convenor of the United Front coalition, pointed out that the TDP and he himself had played a role in the formation of the coalition governments in 1989 and later in 1996. He said coalition and minority governments have “done well” to implement “clear policies”, and argued that political compulsions have always brought parties together. He said he will play the role of a “facilitator” in helping evolve a credible alternative and said that he is not interested in becoming the Prime Minister, added the report.

The Supreme Court of India has postponed the hearing on petitions challenging the Allahabad High Court verdict in the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid site title dispute to January next year, as the apex court will fix the date for commencing hearing then. A batch of petitions are pending before the apex court challenging the Allahabad High Court’s 2010 judgement that split into three parts the disputed land on the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. It goes without saying that the ruling BJP dispensation is not happy with the adjournment of the hearing by the Supreme Court. The BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister of UP, Keshav Prasad Maurya was quoted as saying by the IE report, “I don’t want to comment since it is the deccision of the Supreme Court. However, the postponement of hearing doesn’t send a good message.”

Congress charge BJP of polarising views

Meanwhile, the Congress leader P Chidambaram accused the BJP of “polarising views” on Ayodhya issue before elections. “Congress party’s position is that the matter is before SC,everyone should wait until SC decides. I don’t think we should jump the gun,” he added. VHP working president Alok Kumar said the organisation will not wait “eternally” for the verdict and wants a law to build Ram Temple in Ayodhya, noted the report.

The petitioners had claimed that the earlier decisions in the Ayodhya case were influenced by this statement in the Ismail Faruqui verdict which came on a plea challenging the Constitutional validity of the Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act-1993, under which 67.703 acres were acquired in Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid complex, according to the report.

Turning down the plea, CJI Misra and Justice Ashok Bhushan in their majority verdict said that “we again make it clear that questionable observations made in Ismail Faruqui’s case were made in the context of land acquisition” and that “those observations were neither relevant for deciding the suits nor relevant for deciding these appeals”. The judges opined that “the observation need not be read broadly to hold that a mosque can never be an essential part of the practice of the religion of Islam.”

On September 27 this year, another apex court bench, headed by then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had refused to send to a larger bench the 1994 observation that a mosque is not an integral part of Islam. The plea was raised by some appellants who wanted the court to reconsider its ruling in the M Ismail Faruqui Etc vs Union Of India And Others case, in which a Constitution Bench had observed that “a mosque is not an essential part of the practice of the religion of Islam and namaz (prayer) by Muslims can be offered anywhere, even in open”.

“Frauds in the last four years have outnumbered the achievements of BJP Government. Vijay Mallya led a scam of about Rs.9,000 crore, Nirav Modi of Rs.11,500 crore, Jatin Mehta of Rs.7,000 crore, Nitin Sandesara of Rs.5,000 crore. How were they able to escape with people’s money so easily?”, AP Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu was quoted as saying by the Indian Express report.

“How many more fraud cases before the country sees the true face of BJP government? Behind the facade of false promises lies the truth about farmer debt crisis, rising cases of corruption, attacks on women, communal violence, growing unrest among people and serious threat to democracy,” Naidu was quoted as saying by the report.

Naidu, who met opposition leaders including Aam Aadmi Party chief, Arvind Kejriwal, Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, urged political parties to come together to take the requisite steps to oust the present NDA Government, noted the report.

Nadu tweeted, “It is the need of the hour for all the leaders of the country to come forth, unite & take necessary steps to protect the country from a state of anarchy. Any kind of threat to our democratic values must face a strong opposition. People’s faith in the government must be restored.”

In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Naidu stressed the urgent need to unite against the ruling BJP at the Centre “to protect the country from a state of anarchy.”

Naidu also took to Twitter to list out the “fraud cases” of the Narendra Modi Government, asked how many such cases will the country have to witness “before it sees the true face of the BJP.”

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader also charged the Union Government with discrimination against the newly formed state and failure to grant it a special status, the report said. “Special Category Status was promosed to Andhra Pradesh in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 in order to help the State tackle the financial crisis after bifurcation of the united Andhra into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. We had an alliance with BJP, but on coming to power, PM Modi failed to fulfil the promises he made to the people of AP before elections”, Naidu charged and added, “The Union Government has shown discrimination against our newly-formed State. In spite of the devastation caused by cyclone Titli, Home Minister Rajnath Singh chose to inaugurate party office in Guntur instead of visiting cyclone-affected areas. People’s trust in BJP government has been shattered.”

Raking up demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, Naidu said, “Every citizen of this country suffered because of demonetisation, the imposition of GST amplified the crisis. In four years, no honest attempts have been made against black money. Thanks to demonetisation, the country is not growing and even the investors are losing confidence.”

Raking up demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, Naidu said, “Every citizen of this country suffered because of demonetisation, the imposition of GST amplified the crisis. In four years, no honest attempts have been made against black money. Thanks to demonetisation, the country is not growing and even the investors are losing confidence.”